Dreamforce Picks for the IT Pro

Dreamforce 2015 is less than a week away and that means it’s crunch time. You’ve made sure your outfit doesn’t clash with your lanyard, reserved your hotel room and mastered the lyrics to every Foo Fighters song to prepare for their Thursday night performance. But with more than 130,000 attendees and 1,500 sessions to choose from, Salesforce’s annual conference can be overwhelming.

So what’s an IT person to do? Don’t sweat it. We’ve highlighted our top picks – from instructive daytime sessions to evening festivities – that will get any IT professional off to a great start at #DF15.

Tuesday, September 15Day… Modern Architectures: Keynote - Using Fabrics to Weave Success in the Cloud9-9:40am @ The InterContinental San Francisco Hotel, InterContinental Ballroom C, 888 Howard St. Tom Cozzolino, Salesforce’s director of platform community and productivity, will discuss how to to effectively use the “next big things” – big data, IoT, mobile and cloud – within your enterprise. He’ll talk about how CIOs, CTOs and enterprise architects can approach their current set of applications and ensure they’re truly ready for adopting “modern architectures.”

… To Night#OktaBoxSoiree6-10pm @ Tank18, 1345 Howard St. Sit back, unwind and mingle with fellow IT pros and the Okta and Box teams on Tuesday night. We’ll have a DJ, wine and food prepared by Ryan Scott from Top Chef. Tank18 is just a few blocks away from the conference, but if you want a ride, Okta is providing complimentary cable cars from 818 Mission St. (next to Bloomingdale’s at Jessie and Mission Street). RSVP here to join us!

Wednesday, September 16Day… An Inside View at Box and Workday - Managing for Growth and Employee Success10am @ InterContinental San Francisco Hotel, 888 Howard St. Craig Butler, Workday’s VP of information systems, and Anisha Vaswani at Box (they use Okta!) share how they’ve helped grow their organizations from small startups to publicly traded market leaders. Joined by Simplr’s Patrick Morrissey and Salesforce’s Jess Liu, these IT veterans will give you an inside look at the challenges, strategies and requirements of scaling a global workforce.

… to NightAppBash9pm @ CityView at Metreon, 135 4th St. Get into the rooftop vibe with SteelBrick’s annual after-party. Enjoy great views of the city atop the Metreon over appetizers, drinks and conversation.

Thursday, September 17Day… Forrester on The Evolution of App Dev & Architecture. Mobile. IoT. UX.9am @ InterContinental San Francisco Hotel, InterContinental Ballroom C, 888 Howard St.

Join Jim Sinai, senior director of platform product marketing at Salesforce, and guest speaker Michael Facemire, principal analyst at Forrester Research, for a special session on how mobile, the Internet of Things and wearables are changing the software landscape. Facemire and Sinai will discuss how to deliver experiences that perform at scale, accelerate development and increase quality.

… To NightDreamfest and UCSF Benefit featuring the Foo Fighters7pm @ Pier 70 (20th St. at Illinois St.) Rock the night away with the Foo Fighters and special guest Gary Clark Jr. at the annual Dreamfest benefitting UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals. Haven’t had enough for the day? You’re too legit to quit. Stay for the after-party with special guests will.i.am and MC Hammer.

Friday, September 18Day…Marc Benioff & Parker Harris Q&A2pm @ Moscone West, Third Floor, 747 Howard St. Bring your burning questions – and get answers – from Salesforce’s founders, CEO Marc Benioff and co-founder Parker Harris, during this town hall session and Dreamforce tradition.

… To Night Once Dreamforce is over, be sure to rest up. Conference season has only just begun – and Oktane15 is only two months away!